More than a Portal...

I have MOVED

2010-03-05T13:30:00.002-05:00

I have decided to go elsewhere with my posting.

Check me out at: http://www.morethanaportal.com

Thank you Everyone!!!

Ranting a Bit

2010-03-03T10:03:00.000-05:00

I rarely read the forums but when I do, I tend to only read the class forums centering around...the mage...obviously.

The other day, I casually strolled over to the forums in some spare time I had and discovered a few interesting posts:

1. Guide for Mages who are New to Level 80

2. Ghostcrawler Q&A for Mages (this is an older post, but I just now discovered it)

So, props to the person who made the "New 80 Mage" guide. I wish I had discovered it when ding'd, but, alas, I didn't and instead ran around doing basically nothing until my guild at the time said they'd run me through some heroics so I could get some basic gear. So yes, I was the level 80 mage sitting in my crappy blues leveling up my cooking skill.

This guide covers EVERYTHING I would have wanted to know, and I'm wishing a little that I had written it, but, I do not have that kind of patience. Also, this guide is updated for patch 3.3, so it's not out-of-date like a lot of the things I had found at the time.

So, if you didn't click the link, because you're waiting for me to give you a rundown on the guide, here is the ToC, and that's about as much as you'll get from me. You just basically have to check it out:

I. The Gear Game
A. Crafted Gear and BoEs
B. Emblem Gear
C. The Land of Heroics
II. The Little Things That Count
A. Be Enchanted!
B. Gems are Shiny
C. Glyph It! Glyph it Good!
D. Get a Job! (Profession Choices)
E. Mmm! Food, Flasks, and More
III. Raiding Tips
A. Stats, Specs, and Rotation
B. Good Mage Manners
C. Gear Score and You
D. General Tips
E. Addons and UI
F. Macros
G. Why Do I Suck? [Sadface]*
H. Further Reading*

So yes, it includes a lot, and yes, you should read it. Now, if I could just find a great PvP guide. I really know nothing about PvP..I have 45 honor points total and I've literally dueled about 2 people in my entire WoW career. It's just something I've never tried. The only reason I have any honor points at all is because some Blood Elf rogue came and sliced me while I was talking to the vendor in Wintergrasp, so, as soon as I rez'd I had to go show him what's what...and after that I saw some other Hordie up in the sky, so I parked myself on a tower and shot him down. So yeah, that's the end of my PvP'ing. I wonder if I'd like it...I just don't know how to get started or if I should be wearing different gear for it, or anything. Sigh, PvP noobness.

So anyway, the second item in the list is the Q&A for Mages that was posted sometime back in June of 2009. So yeah, it's older, and yeah, it sucks. I read through it expecting to get some awesome ideas for my blog and instead, came back and started thinking about how I really didn't get much out of this.

In fact, one of the replies advises that they could have saved some time:

Q: What do you think about mages?

A: Mages are fine

And then we wouldn't have had to read anything else. I kind of agree with that statement. I read a lot of non-mage posts that advises that their class got a lot of attention in the Q&A and a lot of technical questions were answered, so, they're surprised at the lack of information that the mage class received.

So, I posted it just so I could get your take on it and if you thought it was pointless or not.

I decided not to write about the Cataclysm post today, just because I know other DPS casters already posted on a lot of it, and I'm waiting for something more interesting -- or maybe I'm waiting until I have something more interesting to say -- you get to choose, I guess.

Okay, so, I think I'm gonna finish this off for now. I need to get better about posting more often..sigh...blog noobness.

Rotface...sigh...

2010-02-23T11:28:00.004-05:00

So last night my raiding group (it's not mine literally, btw, I just go) downed the Stinky, Precious, and Festergut and then wiped on Rotface for about an hour and 15 minutes (maybe more). Each time we attempted the disgusting twin, we got a little closer, mastered a few more of the mechanics, but ultimately, still got our ...everything...handed to us.

It's definitely a rough fight. I read a few of the mage mechanics that might be necessary, and offered those up just in case...but it still just wasn't enough.

For instance, it's important, as a mage, that you know to NOT cast mirror image but DO cast Slow (Arcane Spec only) on the oozes (both big and small when you can).

I think a bit of the blame for our consistent wiping status was definitely on me as I did not read up on the fight nearly enough PLUS I had a fever and was hopped up on cold medication...so, let's just say I wasn't completely there.

Does anyone know any strategy on how to down this Mo' Fo'? Or at least recommend something better than WoWWiki? Please let me know! Also, mages out there, let me know what you've been doing to get through this fight!

Sorry guys, still feeling...horrible...so, short post today. More to come later!

Absolutely Pointless

2010-02-19T14:45:00.010-05:00

Okay, so I know I haven't posted anything in a while, and I apologize for this. I was wanting to do like a "post with some artwork" sort of thing, but I haven't felt compelled to draw anything.

I thought, "I should draw my raid group"...but man, that's a lot of work..

Then I thought "I should draw some more ICC bosses"...but unless I was fighting the boss and it was amazing, I didn't know what to write to tie into the boss drawing.

So I gave up, and just decided to spend a little more time talking about how addicted I am to changing my UI.

Since my last post where I talked about the mods I use, etc. I have completely gone full-force into changing and modifying my UI and trying different things -- including: MACROS.

Now, I've never been a macro person (when it comes to gaming at least -- macros for Excel rock my life), so when I decided to create my first macro, I had absolutely no clue what I wanted.

I started with something simple: Ice Block.

Ice Block is the mage's "Oh Scheisse" handle. It comes in extremely handy when you're not watching Omen and you pull all the threat and the boss comes storming at you and you know you're a clothie' and that you probably won't even be able to take one hit from him (or her, accordingly). So when that happens, you cast Ice Block and you end up being surrounded by Ice and you're immune to the poundage that you'd ultimately face in the end.

The downside: Ice Block lasts 30 seconds, which is FAR too long because most likely your tank will pick up the boss after about 2-3 seconds of you pulling the threat. So, you find yourself in Ice Block and you've got a few options (not an extensive list -- see a friggin' WoWWiki article if you want the full monty):

Wait the full 30 seconds and do zero DPS during this time
Right-click on your Ice Block "buff" to remove the block
Create a way awesome macro that allows you to click one button to Ice Block and the same button to remove the effect

So anyway, what you've all been waiting for (and most of you have probably already created -- I'm way behind in the times) is the macro code:

/cast Ice Block

/cancelaura Ice Block

Yep, so that's it. The amazing code for my first macro -- yep, I'm a complete noob.

However, since that macro, I have created at least 2 more for my most used spells during raid boss fights (and the occasional instance if I feel like it). I'll share the code when I share my UI screenshot, because, quite frankly, I forget what they each do.

My UI (like I promised):

I think I might stop there, though -- unless someone can tell me some more mage macros that could be completely amazing if I created them.

Other than my macro frenzy, I, like I said above, am an addict to UI mods.

I have installed...a bunch...of them...and surprisingly...no crashing yet! I am completely happy with my UI at this point, but if anyone knows of anything terrifically mage related that is A MUST HAVE ...please...tell..me.

The end. I promise I will write more and better...more better.

Icecrown Citadel and Raiding

2010-02-09T16:15:00.004-05:00

Last night, my raiding group (and I) slaughtered Festergut:

It took us a few attempts, but for not being a raiding guild, and only attempting ICC for a couple of hours one night a week, I was actually impressed that we could pull it off.

Based on our attempts from last week, I was almost positive that we'd be stuck there for at least a few weeks...but, we weren't! Hooray!

So, after beaming from the success of the kill, I started thinking about raiding and this is what I decided:

I love raiding, I think it is the best part of the game. It combines the social aspect of the game with challenging tasks that make you work as a team in order to succeed.

I hate working in teams. I have always hated it. I am, without a doubt, a complete introvert. I become extremely shy in public and feel awkward in almost all social situations.

Why, then, do I enjoy raiding so much?

When I'm put on a team for work or for maybe a school project, I always feel as though I probably could have done a better job on my own. However, with raiding, it is completely the opposite. You CANNOT do this on your own, you HAVE to have the others strengths and skills in order to succeed.

You still have that worry about whether or not someone will hold up their end of the deal, but that thought gets pushed to the back of your mind, because, most of the time, at least in my raiding experience, people are trying their best and if they're not, they'll let you know that, "hey guys, that was totally my fault". In teams at work or at school, it's the complete opposite. No one wants to take the blame for something that happened, and in the same regard, nothing is analyzed afterward to determine how make it better.

I love raiding. I have always loved it. I am, without a doubt, a complete introvert. I become extremely shy in public and feel awkward in almost all social situations. Yet, I love working with my team.

P.S. No making fun of my drawing skillz -- Festergut is one ugly beast.

Customized UI? Anyone?

2010-02-07T18:03:00.002-05:00

So yesterday, after a failed attempt at trying to play the World of Warcraft board game (btw, if anyone knows how to play this game, please, tell me how to make it fun), I became very lame, and hence, no blog for yesterday.

Todays topic? The Super Bowl!!!!

Nah, nevermind -- I don't feel like writing about sports. Mostly because a) I'd have to do about 100 time more research in order to make sense in this post and b) who comes to an Arcane Mage blog to read about the Super Bowl?

Because I was away from home yesterday, I ended up having to play WoW on my laptop (not preferable), and I had forgotten the burden of adjusting back to the normal game interface after using a customized UI. Which made me wonder how many of you use a customized UI, macros, scripts, mods, etc?

Currently, I use the following (and this is the complete list):

Deadly Boss Mods
Enchantrix
PortalBox
Recount
Bagnon
Auctioneer
Quest Helper
Mage Nuggets
Decursive
Omen
Bartender4
Chatter
Postal
Sell-o-Matic

Note: All of these can be found by just doing a Google search -- and almost all are available through Curse.

The list above is all of the mods I use to either maximize my DPS or customize my UI. I use zero macros and scripts because I've never tried to create any. I might try it someday, but, I think I'd have to be pretty bored.

So anyway, after I opened up my laptop and found that I had zero mods installed, I almost went insane, but it definitely got me thinking about how much I depend on things to hand-hold me through the game. Up until I started raiding, the only mod I had was quest helper, and since the current releases, I'm not even sure having quest helper is necessary anymore.

However, when I hit 80 and was about to go to my first raid, I was told by my guild that I needed to get Deadly Boss Mods or die, so I did, and then it got me thinking about all the other things I could download to help me out...and then it exploded.

In conclusion, I'd like to know if anyone thinks it's wrong to customize their UI or use a ton of mods to make your game play easier. Please, tell me.

P.S. I'll post a pic of my UI sometime, if anyone is interested -- and as soon as I gather the energy to...walk up my stairs.

Professions

2010-02-05T10:24:00.006-05:00

Greetings Everyone!

I took a break from the blog last night (even though I probably shouldn't) because, well, I had a raid to get to.

So, after the semi-decent ICC run, I felt guilty for blowing off my blog, so I pondered all night about what I wanted to write about today and all I could come up with was professions.

I have recently read a few forums, whatever, where people were comparing their RL professions to the professions they've chosen in-game with the obvious notion that you choose your professions based on your RL personality. I do not agree with this at all, and here's why:

I know you've all been wondering what I do for a living, when I'm not writing this incredibly insightful blog...okay, maybe not. Well anyway, in real life, I work in Tech Support. I know, it's so completely glamorous that you don't know how to react. (Note: I am working to get out of tech support ASAP as I feel I am over-qualified to be taking phone calls from crappy customers who don't know where the Start menu is located).
My professions in-game, and if you've looked up from the armory you'd know are: Tailoring and Enchanting.

Tailoring might exist in real life, and maybe at one point I wished I could make my own clothes because I watched Project Runway and thought, maybe, that'd be cool, but I in no way want to be a seamstress nor do I want to be one of those people you bring your pants to because you've gained weight, lost weight, etc. (like on that horrible yogurt commercial).
Enchanting, I believe, and correct me if I'm wrong -- doesn't really exist in RL. I don't know what I'd compare it to...mostly because I haven't thought about it enough.

Sure, blacksmithing, mining, alchemy, herbalism, fishing, cooking, first aid, leatherworking, engineering, skinning, jewelcrafting, etc. exist in RL in some fashion, but do you really think that a person (let's say Warrior) chose to take up blacksmithing because either a) he's a blacksmith in RL or b) he has always wanted to be a blacksmith? I don't think so...

Now you all might completely disagree with me, and that's fine. However, the way I see it is that you choose a profession based on your character's needs. If your character just needs gold and you don't care about anything else, you might pick up those gathering professions that make my eyes bleed. If your character (like mine) wears a certain type of armor that can be created and it might save you money in the long-run to simply craft items, you might pick up something like, tailoring or blacksmithing or leatherworking.

I think, rather than professions, we choose our character class or race or faction based on our personalities. I don't know how to justify the fact that my main character is a mage and that I am a hordie by heart with tidbits from my personality in RL, but I know the link has to exist somewhere.

I hate hate hate playing a DK, why? It has nothing to do with melee fighting, but more than likely fight mechanics or something like that. I know for a fact that I do not want to play a healer -- most likely because I don't want the group I play with to rely on me for something important -- like, living or dying. I think in RL, I probably don't want people to depend on me too much, either. Not to say that I'm not dependable, because I am -- if you ask me to be somewhere, I'll be there, and I'll probably be early. I just don't think I want the stress that might come if people started depending on me for important things, so I tend to stray away from that type of persona even in my fantasy land.

My mage is a boom-pow. The purpose of my mage is to top DPS charts while using different skills and abilities to make them an almost essential part of a group (intellect buffs, focus magic, mana biscuits, remove curse, polymorph, spellsteal, etc.). This, is me.

I want to be at the top of almost everything I do. I want to be doing my best, so I play a character that can offer me that (most of the time). I have skills and abilities in real life that might make me an essential member of a team or project.

So, I feel like I've ranted a bit -- but oh wellz, if you got this far, I guess I can give you hope that it's almost over.

People don't pick professions because of their personality rather, they pick everything else.

Horde v. Alliance

2010-02-03T21:24:00.003-05:00

Be Forewarned: The following information is coming from a completely biased POV and has absolutely nothing to do with a Mage.

So, one of the comments to my first post was a request for my opinion on the factions and which one I preferred, or I've completely skewed the question and it had nothing to do with that at all, but oh well, you're getting it anyway.

The reason the question was raised was because I mentioned that I had recently switched factions from the Horde to the Alliance per the request of some RL peeps. So, after debating a while in my head and with my partner in Horde-crime, I decided to go ahead and make the switch.

I chose my race -- Draenei -- mostly because I'm not really a gnome type of person and I hate how the humans look so much less..graphically developed..

I had to change my name, which disappointed me, but I got over it soon enough.

I'd like to say that was the end and my only disappointment would have been having to be a Draenei and changing my name, but, sadly, I was disappointed with a lot of things...

1) I had no idea where to go. Granted, when you change factions, Blizz throws in a bonus of having basically every singly flight path available, but it doesn't update the map with the major cities (you still have the Horde ones there) and you still have not discovered any of the areas -- so, you have a ton of flight paths to...brown, undiscovered map area.

2) Orgrimmar was amazing -- Stormwind...not at all amazing. I do like IF, but, it's still not Orgrimmar. It was so much more amazing to look at because it wasn't just a building. Granted, Darnassus is kind of trying to go that way...but...yeah...and don't even get me started on the Exodar -- although, the Undercity still might be a bit more confusing.

3) In the process of switching factions, I also switched servers -- my old server being an RP server -- so playing RP on the Horde side was pretty interesting.

4) I had ZERO rep with anything -- which, was very annoying. All the rep I had worked on while leveling my hordie, vanished. So, starting from scratch on that one -- and yes, it blows about as much as you'd expect.

In my opinion, the Horde cities, landscape, appearance, everything is more interesting and takes you a bit more into a fantasy land than the Alliance. I prefer it completely, but I am happy where I am now. After all, the social aspect of the game is much more exciting than being able to look like a monster.

I would like to you know your thoughts, which faction you like more, etc.

I am now leveling a few toons at the same time on the Alliance side, which will be a first for me. I'll be able to give a better opinion once I experience something other than frustrating rep grinds and empty maps.

Power Infusion...wha..?

2010-02-02T15:02:00.007-05:00

Okay, per the request of Miss Medicina, I decided I was going to write about the lovely happy magic that a Disc Priest and an Arcane Mage can create together (although, I'm sure any spell-caster would appreciate the "boom-pow" as well). So anyway, it begins like this:

Havoca prances along, slayin' beasts, when all of a sudden she looks at her buff-o-meter and finds Power Infusion listed there.

Havoca cries out, "WHAT is power infusion and WHY is it sooooooo awesome???"

She doesn't do much research on the subject, rather, she turns her attention towards her rotation and downing some boss in some room somewhere in Ulduar.

A while later she is asked by lil' Miss Medicina, "Hey, do you like that power infusion I keep putting on you?"

"Power wha...what's going on...how are you awesome?", Havoca responds with stellar quality.

The end.

I know, I should write suspense novels for a living.

So anyway, once we finished up our run, I decided to do a bit of research (mostly on WoWWiki, and here's what I found out.

To use Power Infusion you need to have an awesome Disc Priest who's willing to give the buff to someone other than themselves.
The buff itself gives an increase in spell casting speed by 20% and reduces the mana cost of all spells by 20%.
The buff only lasts 15 seconds and has a 2 minute cooldown.
The buff does not stack with: Arcane Power, Icy Veins, or Heroism/Bloodlust (from the Shammy) or any other self-only haste increase buffs.
Should be able to be stacked with Trinket effects. Cha-Ching--but, if you're like me, I usually use my trinkets when I'm using my other haste buffs.

So, especially as a mage, it's important to see when you've been popped with Power Infusion because we have a lot of spells that can counter it. The best way to prevent any kind of countering is to, obviously, pay attention. Don't cast Arcane Power or Icy Veins if you've just been popped with Power Infusion.

The end result is that I'd probably have done a lot more DPS if I had been aware of the countering spells that I can cast, because I definitely am haste-cast happy. So next time, I'll be paying a LOT more attention.

Oh, and be sure to reciprocate the generosity of that disc priest with some good ol' Focus Magic.

Introduction

2010-02-01T14:06:00.003-05:00

Greetings Blog Readers:

This is the lame introductory post that's filled with the basics: race, class, spec, etc. I also might pump it full of websites/programs/mods I use (some of which can be found in my links as well).

Okay, so, here it goes:

Character Name: Havoca

Race: Draenei (although, I started as a Blood Elf)

Class: Mage

Spec: Arcane

Yeah, that's enough -- if you want the full nitty gritty on my toon, check me out on the armory.

Now, I should warn EVERYONE reading this that I am in NO way the best mage out there, so if you've come to my blog looking for information on how to be the "best of the best", you might want to look elsewhere. This is not to mean that I can't hold my own, because, I definitely can -- I just wanted to throw out that disclaimer for the haters.

Since this is my introductory post, I plan on being pretty brief and not covering much, if anything, of substance. So, yes, you're going to be disappointed if this is 1) the only post I have up at the moment and 2) you were expecting some sort of "fall-to-your-knees-begging-for-more" blog post greatness.

The things I do want everyone to know:

I am a sub-par writer. I will be grammatically incorrect a lot of the time (although I'll work to avoid it) and my posts may contain a few (or more) spelling errors. However, focusing on these things will only make you think I'm an idiot -- so, let's focus on the content and not, well, the other stuff.
The hope of this blog is to contain an eclectic mixture of information -- mostly about Arcane Mages and the occasional information about leveling, raiding, etc (maybe).
I am not in a raiding guild and raiding is not my life -- I do enjoy raiding, and I do enjoy "pwning noobs", but again, it's not my life -- if you were coming here to find theory-crafting and in-depth analysis of the best way to take down Festergut, you might want to look elsewhere, as...if I decide I want to write about that, it's most likely going to be mediocre advice and will probably just piss you off if you decided that what I say is the golden rule and then you find out you've been suckered into being rank 5 out of 10 (or 14 out of 25, respectively).
As I work on my alts, I'll probably post information about those as well, because, eh, why not?

Okay, that seems like enough information for my first bulleted list. It was starting to look a little crowded, I think I need another one...

Sites / Programs I use:

Wow-Heroes
WoW Armory (obviously)
WoW-Professions (for...professions)
WoW-Gems (for finding the perfect Gems)
WoW-Pro (for leveling, and other stuff)
Rawr (recent development)

Some Mods I use:

Recount (DPS Tracker)
Bartender4 (UI customization)
Omen (Aggro Meter)
Auctioneer (for obvious reasons)
QuestHelper (for even more obvious reasons)

Okay, so, this seems like enough of an introductory to me. Comments are appreciated, especially if you have something you'd like me to post about.